Red Moscow

  Chapter 1211 Distribution of spoils

Sokov picked up the map on the table, put it in front of Beria, pointed to it and said to him: "Comrade People's Commissar, please see, from the situation on the map, Model's Ninth Army Going south from Orel, while Manstein's troops went north from Belgorod, the two sides tried to join forces outside the city of Kursk and encircle our army's heavy army group on the Kursk salient."

   "It's obvious, Comrade Sokov." Beria, as the People's Commissar of National Defense and a member of the Supreme Command, participated in important military meetings as usual, so he naturally knew the German army's offensive intentions. He interrupted Sokov, and said impatiently: "I want to know, where is the enemy's next attack focus?"

"It's hard for me to say what's going on on the northern front. After all, my troops are too far away from there, and many things are unclear." Sokov decided to focus on telling Beria about the war on the southern front: "I'll just talk about the southern front. line situation.

  Although our army's shelling forced the enemy to delay the attack time for three hours, their combat effectiveness on the first day still successfully broke through our army's first line of defense. General Vatutin urgently called in the reserve force of the Front Army and launched a counterattack against the enemy. He did so for two purposes. One purpose is to restore the first line of defense occupied by the Germans; if this cannot be done, use this part of the force to keep the enemy out of the second line of defense.

   But it is regrettable that the enemy still opened a gap in his second line of defense, and successfully crossed the Pena River, advancing more than 30 kilometers deep into our army's defense. In order to gain the initiative on the battlefield, both the enemy and the enemy have dispatched a large number of air forces to compete for air supremacy on the battlefield..."

  Belia listened to Sokov's analysis and kept nodding his head, expressing his agreement with his statement. Lunev, who was standing by the side, was secretly relieved when he saw Beria's normal expression, feeling that Sokov would not be able to pass the test easily today.

Sokov talked for a while, feeling a little parched, so he took a sip from the teacup on the table, and then continued: "...the enemy was hit hard by us in the Oboyan area, and their elite Imperial Division almost completely lost, in which case they will certainly abandon the offensive in the Oboyan area and shift the direction of attack to their right flank, that is, Prokhorovka. The deployment of mechanized troops. Therefore, the next battle will revolve around this area."

   "Your analysis makes some sense." Before coming here from Moscow, Beria had a general understanding of the frontline situation. According to the collected information, the enemy's armored forces are concentrating towards the Prokhorovka area, and the 5th Guards Tank Army and 5th Guards Army, which the headquarters mobilized to the Voronezh Front, are also moving towards the above-mentioned area. Anyone who knows this news will understand that the next main battlefield will be around the Prokhorovka area. Beria knew that much of the information he possessed was top secret. Not to mention Sokov, the chief of the army group, even the chief of the front army, Konev, and others might not know it. From this point of view, he is indeed a military genius, able to analyze the next situation so accurately.

Through the conversation with Sokov, Beria felt that he did not find any flaws. He felt that his previous judgment may have been biased. How could he regard this young man who was trusted by Stalin and many senior commanders as a German? What about the spy. After chatting for a few more words, he got up to leave. He was eager to return to Moscow and ordered the relevant departments to change their thinking and stop conducting any private investigations on Sokov.

  Seeing that Beria was about to leave, Sokov planned to send him out, but he waved his hand and said, "Let Comrade Lunev send me, I still have something to say to him."

  On the way to the airstrip, Beria asked Lunev who was sitting next to him: "Comrade Lunev, you have been partnering with Sokov for a long time. What do you think of his level?"

   "Comrade Beria, please forgive me." Lunev and Sokov have been together for a while, and feel that following him can continue to make meritorious deeds, which is very helpful for his future. Hearing Beria's question at this moment, it is natural to speak well for Sokov: "If he is not too young, with his military talent, he can completely compete with Zhukov, Vasilevsky and Rokossovsky. Sit on an equal footing."

  If Sokov was here and heard Lunev's evaluation of him, he might have been so ashamed that he would have found a crack in the ground and burrowed down. Others don't know the situation, so Sukov doesn't know his own details? If he hadn't come from the future, knew the direction of history, and let him command and fight with his real skills, his level might be about the same as that of an ordinary infantry squad leader.

   Lunev's evaluation of Sokov surprised Beria: "Oh, I really didn't expect that you have such a high evaluation of him."

   "Yes, Comrade Beria." Lunev nodded, and said in an affirmative tone: "I believe that in the near future, Comrade Sokov will command the troops and establish more exploits in the Kursk region."

  Shortly after Beria left, General Poluboyarov, commander of the 4th Guards Tank Corps, appeared in Sokov's headquarters. Seeing his appearance, Sokov was a little surprised: "Comrade General, why did you come to me."

   "Hello, Comrade Commander!" General Poluboyarov raised his hand to salute Sokov and asked politely, "I would like to ask, what is the next combat mission of our army?"

Although due to the terrain restrictions in the Shumakovo area, it is impossible to deploy a large-scale armored force, but with a tank army as the backing, Sokov is much more confident when commanding operations: "All the tanks of your army have arrived. Shumakovo?"

   "Yes, Comrade Commander, all the tanks have reached Shumakovo." Poluboyarov said with some regret: "Unfortunately, we came one step late."

"Comrade General, you don't have to feel sorry." Sokov comforted the other party and said: "The area where the battle was fought not long ago is not conducive to the deployment of tank troops. If a large number of tanks and armored vehicles are destroyed on the road, it will block us. The road to Oboyan."

   "Then when can we join the battle?"

   "Hurry up," Sokov said casually: "Good steel is used on the blade. Your army is the most powerful force in our army. We must put you into battle at the most critical time."

"Comrade Commander, before I came here." General Poluboyarov sat down opposite Sokov, took the tea cup handed over by the staff officer, took a sip of tea, and continued: "I heard that the people who carried out the assault The troops seized a batch of German tanks, is there such a thing?"

  Before launching the offensive, Sokov sent several small troops to attack the German camp with rockets. Taking advantage of the enemy's confusion, use three brigades to attack in turn, driving the enemy south like ducks. As for the garrison of the German 2nd Armored Regiment, shortly after it was attacked, the commanders and fighters of the infantry brigade rushed into the camp and successfully captured 29 complete tanks. Now, in order to prevent these tanks from being attacked by the German army, Sokov has already ordered people to conceal them. At this moment, when General Poluboyarov asked about this matter, he nodded and said, "That's right, when we attacked south, we did capture a batch of No. 3 and No. 4 enemy tanks, a total of 29."

Knowing that a batch of German tanks had indeed been seized, Poluboyarov's eyes lit up immediately: "Comrade Commander, you know that our army has a limited number of tanks. It has been a long time since they were in place. Do you think it is possible to equip all the captured tanks to our army?"

   "What, equip this batch of captured tanks to your army?" After capturing these batches of tanks and supporting ammunition, Sokov has been thinking about which army to distribute these spoils of war to? It is said that the 4th Guards Tank Army of General Poluboyarov has 3 tank brigades, 1 motorized infantry brigade, 7,500 people, 168 tanks and 76 artillery pieces of various calibers. If these 29 tanks are allocated to them, their strength can be made even stronger.

But Sokov thought about it again, if General Poluboyarov's tank army is too powerful, some people will definitely be jealous. When the superiors issue an order to transfer the army to other army groups, then he will be the leader. Losing his wife and losing his army, this kind of money-losing business cannot be done.

   On the contrary, the 85th and 483rd Independent Tank Battalions directly under the Group Army have less than 50 tanks, and they can consider assigning these tanks to them. After all, even if the superior wants to draw troops from his own group army, he will not pay attention to this kind of battalion-level organizational unit.

   Unexpectedly, at this moment, General Poluboyarov actually proposed to himself straight to the point that he wanted the captured tanks. For a while, Sokov felt very embarrassed. Seeing Sokov's delay in speaking, Poluboyarov sensed his embarrassment, and asked tentatively, "Comrade Commander, are you worried about how to allocate these tanks?"

"Comrade General, you guessed right." Sokov did not go around in circles with General Poluboyarov, but said bluntly: "If our army only has one tank unit of yours, I will definitely not hesitate Replenish all the captured tanks to your army, after all, with a strong tank force, we have a greater chance of winning on the battlefield."

   "That's right, that's true." General Poluboyarov nodded, and then asked in confusion, "Then what is the reason why you have been unable to make up your mind?"

   "The reason is very simple," Sokov said with a wry smile: "The higher-ups may transfer your army to another group army command according to changes in the battlefield situation, and our strength will be greatly weakened at that time."

When General Poluboyarov did not speak, he just drank tea slowly from a teacup. After a while, he said: "Comrade Commander, what you mean is to allocate these tanks to the two A separate tank battalion?"

"I have such considerations." Sokov said cautiously: "Even if the strength of their two battalions has been improved, they are only a battalion-level unit. Even if the superiors want to transfer troops, I am afraid they will ignore them. "

"You are very reasonable." Regarding Sokov's concerns, General Poluboyarov expressed his understanding, "From the current situation, the armored forces of the Voronezh Front have almost suffered losses in the battle, and after gaining Before the new additions, the higher-ups can only find ways to transfer forces from other troops to strengthen them. If the higher-ups find that our army has not participated in the battle, they may transfer us away."

  What General Poluboyarov said was exactly what Sokov was worried about. He looked at the other party and asked, "Comrade General, do you have any good ways to prevent this from happening?"

"There is a way, but you must assign us combat missions." General Poluboyarov smiled and said to Sokov: "As long as the superiors see that our army is fighting the enemy, they will give up and send us away." plan."

   "This method is not bad." Sokov felt that General Poluboyarov's words were very reasonable. As long as the tank troops under his name were fighting the enemy, the superiors would definitely give up their plans to transfer them. "That is to say, as long as your army is fighting, the superiors will ignore you and will not remove you from our combat order."

"This is exactly the case." General Poluboyarov continued: "If we are fighting the enemy, you keep making a series of requests to your superiors, such as insufficient tanks, insufficient ammunition and fuel, It needs to be supplemented by the superiors, etc. In this way, the superiors will have an idea that it is inappropriate to transfer us from your combat order, and they will give up this plan."

"It makes sense, it makes sense, then I will assign combat missions to your army immediately." Sokov just said this, and suddenly realized that he seemed to have jumped into the hole that General Poluboyarov had dug in advance, so he smiled wryly After a while, he said: "Comrade General, next, you will probably look for the 29 German tanks I want to seize, right?"

Seeing that his little trick was seen through by Sokov, General Poluboyarov chuckled a little embarrassedly, and then said: "Comrade Commander, we will definitely lose tanks during the offensive battle. We can use these captured tanks to replace those damaged tanks."

"Okay, Comrade General." After some weighing, Sokov decided to give these tanks to Poluboyarov's tank army: "I can agree to your request, but you have to arrange it as soon as possible." Manpower, change the paintwork of these tanks for you, otherwise it would be bad if you are accidentally injured by your own people on the battlefield."

"I'm afraid it's too late to change the painting." General Poluboyarov frowned and said, "I think it's better to learn from the Germans and put a red flag on the turret of the tank, so that our commanders and fighters will be separated from each other." From a distance, you can see that it is our army’s tank.”

"No, no, no." Regarding General Poluboyarov's proposal, Sokov waved his hands and said, "Outside in the battle, the air wave of the explosion lifted the red flag on the tank, so what should we do? What if If you use these tanks like this, you have to change the paint job."

  (end of this chapter)